


A Second Chance

by Caelonaut



Category: Lucifer (TV), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Acceptance, Denial, Episode: s03 Desperada, Episode: s03 Desperada Spoilers, Gen, Groundhog Day, Guilt, Hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22034233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caelonaut/pseuds/Caelonaut
Summary: Adrien is trapped in a nightmarish time loop where he cannot save Ladybug no matter how hard he tries. Then a mysterious stranger and his friend arrive to tell him that this is Hell...
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	A Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> When I watched the episode 'Desperada', Adrien's plight struck me as heartbreaking to the point of agonising. And the poor child kept that going for months. MONTHS. In fact, if I did the math right, he kept it going constantly for more than a year, without sleep, without rest, with barely a moment even to reorient himself each time.
> 
> At that point introducing Lucifer to the mix seemed not merely logical but inevitable.

He failed again.  
And again.  
And again.  
"No no no no NO!" Adrien yelled as Desperada popped up from behind a car and shot at Ladybug --  
Time seemed to stop. Ladybug stood frozen as the yellow blast hung in the air mere inches behind her back. Desperada floated in mid-air, unmoving like a statue, her triumphant grin a rictus.  
Adrien blinked.  
He looked around. Everything seemed to be standing still, not just Ladybug and Desperada. Hiding citizens, frightened birds, cars trying to escape -- all of Paris appeared to be in stasis.  
"Ah! There you are. We need to have a talk, young man." The voice sounded warm, genial and amused. "You have caused quite a stir here, you know."  
Adrien whirled and saw two men behind him, one white, the other black. The white man wore an elegant suit that might have come from one of Paris' finest couturiers. He gave Adrien a wide smile that somehow made him feel uneasy. The black man, on the other hand, looked grave and concerned. He wore a rumpled trench coat that had seen better days.  
"Who are you?" Adrien demanded. "And what did you do? What is happening here?"  
"Ah." The white man rubbed his scruff-covered chin. "My name is Lucifer Morningstar, and this is my brother Amenadiel. My dear brother has the ability to make time slow down." The black man gave Adrien a polite nod.  
"As to what is happening, that is what I am here to find out," Lucifer continued. "We were hoping you might explain, Monsieur... ah..."  
"Aspic." Adrien scowled. "And I don't have time for this! I have to save Ladybug!" He glanced back towards her and to his horror realised that the yellow blast had moved just a little closer to her back while they had stood talking.  
"Young man, you will have far too much time to fail to save her if you do not listen." Lucifer frowned. "But perhaps a demonstration would serve better. Amenadiel, please?"  
Amenadiel frowned. "Lucy --"  
"Do it my way. Please."  
Amenadiel sighed. "Very well."  
Time resumed and Ladybug vanished. Desperada cackled.  
"NO!" Adrien yelled, then activated his Miraculous and reset time again.

And again.  
And again.  
He couldn't get it right no matter what he did.  
But he couldn't stop. He had to save her.  
Some small part of him tried to tell him that this was madness, that there was no possible way he could ever save her. He screamed at it to shut up. He would keep trying. He would never give up.  
Even so, he still failed. Again and again and again.  
He was watching helplessly as Desperada held a horrified Ladybug pinned and was about to shoot her --  
\-- and then, once again, time stood still.

"Are you willing to listen now?" Lucifer sounded only mildly interested, as if it were not really that important to him either way.  
Adrien whirled on him. "You again! If you can do this, why aren't you helping me? Why are you here at all?"  
Lucifer's eyes glittered. "I am here, young man, because this is my realm and demesnes. And you are here on false premises." Amenadiel still stood next to his brother, silent and worried-looking.  
Adrien scoffed. "Paris is your 'realm and demesnes'? Monsieur, you are out of your mind. Paris belongs to the people who live here."  
"Ah, but you see, young man, that is the problem. You are not in Paris any more. Which is too bad, really, charming place, I always love to visit there." Lucifer smiled widely.  
Adrien gawked at him. "Well, it looks like Paris to me." He snorted.  
"It isn't, Aspic." Amenadiel shook his head. "You only think it is." His voice sounded so full of concern that Adrien almost believed him for a moment.  
"Look," Adrien tried. "What is it you want?"  
"Well, first of all, we want you to listen." Lucifer stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against a wall, the picture of indolence, then gave Adrien that unnerving smile again. "Do you think you can do that?"  
"You have my attention," Adrien gritted out. He snuck a look at Desperada and Ladybug, but they still seemed frozen in place. "So talk."  
Amenadiel nodded. "You are trying to save that girl. She clearly means a lot to you. So much that failing to save her has brought you here."  
"It hasn't brought me anywhere! This is Paris!" Adrien yelled.  
Lucifer sighed. "No. It is not. As I have said, this is my realm and demesnes. I am afraid, young man, that you are in Hell."  
Adrien stared at him in shock.

For a few moments he felt dizzy. Everything seemed to go in circles around him. Then he pulled himself together and tried again. "No. It can't be. This isn't -- this doesn't look like --"  
"-- like a flaming landscape filled with sulphurous lava pools? Oh, Hell was never really like that." Lucifer smiled again, but this time his smile seemed more sad than anything else. And genuine, too. As if just for a moment the real person showed underneath the facade. "No, my young friend, one of your own countrymen came much closer to the truth. Brilliant, brilliant man. And ironically he never even came near Hell himself."  
"Sartre? _Huis Clos_?" Adrien suddenly remembered that the English title of the play was No Exit. "No -- no, this can't be. I didn't -- I haven't --"  
Except that he had, and he did. He'd lied to Ladybug by accepting the Miraculous, at the very least by omission. And he'd failed to live up to the charge she'd bestowed on him, again and again and again. And he'd done all of it against Plagg's stern advice.  
"Jean-Paul Sartre is not important at this moment, and while I said he came close, he did not get it precisely right." Lucifer sounded almost gentle. "Which I suppose is fortunate, he bore burdens enough as it was. And you would know about carrying burdens, wouldn't you?"  
Adrien sagged. He wanted to object, to rage, to scream against the world around him. But he no longer doubted either Lucifer or Amenadiel. "...this really is Hell, isn't it?"  
"It is." Lucifer stated it as a simple fact, much like he'd been asked if it were Tuesday.  
"Then... then I have to find a way out. I have to escape. I have to save Ladybug." He set his jaw.  
Lucifer frowned. "But I have already told you. You cannot."  
"No!" Adrien lost his temper. "I can save her! I have to! I just have to work out how!"  
Red glowed in Lucifer's eyes, as if they were burning. "I see. You are no longer listening. Very well, then. Carry on." He turned away from Adrien and gave Amenadiel a lazy wave.  
"You can't --" Adrien yelled. Then both men vanished, time resumed and Desperada laughed in triumph as she pulled the trigger. And Adrien gritted his teeth and activated his damned Miraculous again.

And again. And again. And again.  
He didn't lose count. He kept all too careful count, in fact. The number kept climbing and climbing and climbing but he didn't care. He had to do this. What was it that sorcerer in that movie had said? "I saw fourteen million futures and we only won in one"? Well, if that was what it took, he would keep going that long.  
At least he told himself he would. It just was so hard. And things started to blur after a while. At one point he realised that he hadn't even tried anything different for several dozen times. Worse, he found it harder and harder to put effort into anything he did. Failure started to become something... expected. Almost comforting, in a way. Safer.  
But he had to keep trying. He had to.  
Yet still the strain kept building and building. Resisting despair became harder and harder. So when time finally stopped again, he sank to his knees and cried.

"So, my young friend. Are you ready to listen again?" Lucifer sounded almost gentle.  
"I am." Adrien sniffled. "And... and I'm sorry I yelled at you."  
"It is understandable." A ghost of a smile crossed the handsome man's face. "You have been under a great deal of stress. You are forgiven."  
Amenadiel gave him a sad smile. "That is uncharacteristic of you, brother. You didn't used to forgive, really."  
Lucifer sent him an irritated look, then waved him off and turned back to Adrien. "So. We need to find out why you are here. You clearly carry a burden of guilt. Do you wish to speak about it?"  
Adrien couldn't look away from him. "This -- this is all my fault --"  
"I doubt it is all your fault, young man. Nonetheless. What is it you feel so guilty about?" Lucifer knelt next to him, bringing himself to eye height.  
And Adrien found himself talking. About everything. About how he could never satisfy his father, never do things well enough to make him happy. About trying to fit in at school. About his friends, about the constant supervillain attacks and about Lila. And Marinette.  
About how he'd failed Marinette against Lila, and done nothing while she worked to ruin Marinette's reputation.  
He finally ran dry of things to say, then swallowed, trying to wet his throat.  
Lucifer gave him a sombre nod. "I see. You certainly carry enough guilt on you. Enough to bring you down here."  
"Then why are you trying to help me?" Adrien sobbed. "Don't I deserve this?"  
Lucifer sighed. "As to whether you deserve it or not, I am no judge. I merely tend to this place and the people who come here. They come here presumably arranged by a higher authority." He gave a sniff, then focused on Adrien again. "No, I am trying to decide what to do about you because you are still alive. The living do not normally come here, but somehow you seem to have managed."  
Adrien blinked.

"I'm still alive?" In fact, it hadn't even occurred to Adrien that he might have been dead. "Then how did I get here?"  
Lucifer frowned. "I am not completely certain, but I suspect it is the power of that device you are wearing that brought you here. Of course, it could only do that due to the weight of guilt you carry. And now you are here..." he trailed off.  
Adrien sagged. "It can't bring me out?"  
"No." Lucifer shook his head. "Only you can do that."  
"But how? How? I have to save her!" Adrien clenched his fists.  
"You cannot save her while you are trapped here. And you cannot escape until you admit that you cannot save her." Lucifer seemed almost sympathetic.  
"But --" Adrien began.  
"Look me into my eyes." Lucifer's voice turned harsh, commanding. "Tell me what it is you want. Tell me your heart's desire."  
Adrien gulped. Suddenly he couldn't look away. He stared into that terrible gaze as it plunged the very depths of his soul. And heard himself speak as from a great distance.  
"I want to be free."  
The power that held him spellbound let go of him.  
"So." Lucifer gave him that small smile. "And in spite of that burning desire, you remain trapped. Not only here, but in life. I am truly sorry."  
"But what can I do?" Adrien felt ready to cry again.  
"Perhaps more than you think. But you cannot do it alone. And you cannot shy away from what is necessary." Lucifer patted him on the shoulder, then stood. "And the first thing you must recognise is that you cannot save that girl."  
Adrien stared up at him for long moments, then nodded. "I see. Thank you."  
"You are quite welcome, my young friend." Lucifer smiled that bright and disquieting smile again. "Perhaps we will meet again, though perhaps it would be better if we did not. Fare you well." He vanished. Amenadiel gave him a grave nod, perhaps of approval, and then he vanished, too.  
Adrien sighed and used the Miraculous once more. And time reset again.

Ladybug was talking again. "-- you now have five minutes before --"  
Adrien held up his hand. "Sass, scales off." His transformation dropped.  
Ladybug stared at him in confusion.  
"I'm sorry, Ladybug. I wasn't the right choice after all. I can't save you." Adrien looked down.  
"But -- but --" she stammered.  
Behind her, Luka came running up. "Oh! Ladybug! I see you found Adrien. Good." He smiled.  
Adrien looked up again, his heart suddenly beating faster, hope flaring in his breast. "But, Ladybug -- here is someone brave and determined -- and maybe he can do what I can't."  
Ladybug and Luka both stared at him in bewilderment. "Are you sure, Adrien?" Ladybug asked, her eyes soft and concerned.  
"I am." He removed the Miraculous from his wrist and firmly pressed it into Ladybug's hands. "I'll hide. Good luck fighting Desperada, you two."  
"Will you be okay?" Ladybug bit her lip.  
For the first time in what felt like far too long, Adrien smiled. "Yes, Ladybug. After all, I've been given a second chance."


End file.
